Griffin And Bamford
Wide-Ranging GT Programme For 2008

While discovering that Peter Bamford and Matt Griffin will be racing a Chad Ferrari GT3 in the British GT Championship in 2008, it became apparent that they have some other very interesting plans for the new year too.

The Chad Racing programme is part of a season’s racing that will see Peter Bamford (and Matt Griffin) cover a lot of miles, mainly in Ferraris – with the ultimate objective (not this year) of racing at Le Mans.

Bamford’s story is an interesting one – as is that of his regular partner (from the end of the 2006 season) Matt Griffin.

“You have to remember that Peter only started racing mid-way through 2006,” points out Matt Griffin.

“Yes, I took my ARDS Test at the end of May last year, at Kirkistown – and then I began an intensive, six week programme with RPM, to secure an International C licence. I needed that to do the Ferrari Challenge, so I ended up racing everywhere in RPM’s cars: Radicals, a Porsche, a Formula Ford – and I even did a day’s marshalling.”

In GT terms, Peter Bamford finished the 2006 season by racing in the last three rounds of the Ferrari Challenge, in two rounds of the British GT Championship (above), with Matt Griffin, and with RPM again in the second running of the Britcar 24 Hours (below).

“That was a remarkable experience – racing at Silverstone, at night, round the GP track. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.”

Bamford was very keen to thank RPM (Robin and Alex Mortimer) and Ferrari GB for their help in getting him ‘up and running’ so quickly, and Enrico Bertaggia of Ferrari GB for helping to set up part of the 2008 plan (more of which shortly).

This fellow is still very much involved in the business world – “I definitely haven’t retired from business, but I wanted to do some other things with my life, and racing was one of them” – but in different ways now from his former involvement, which had a very strong motor racing connection.

“I was the Business Director for Vodapfone for nine years, and my last role with the company was as the Group Chief Marketing Officer, responsible for all of Vodafone’s sponsorship activities. I had the relationship with Jean Todt at Ferrari when Vodafone sponsored the F1 team, and similarly I did the deal with Ron Dennis, for Vodafone sponsorship of McLaren.”

So the Ferrari ties run deep, and it was the Ferrari connection that brought Peter Bamford and Matt Griffin together (seen at Donington recently, right).

“I met Matt through Ferrari GB, and Alex Mortimer coached me as well – so I’ve been taught very well.”

Matt Griffin came to prominence in 2003, when he and Pat Pearce wrapped up the British GT Cup title, in the Tech 9 Porsche: they were virtually unbeatable that year.

“But 2004 and 2005 were a disastrous time for me,” says the Irishman. “I signed a three year contract to race the Vauxhall Monaro, and it took me until towards the end of 2006 to get out of that.” The Monaro did manage a (G2) class win at Magny-Cours in 2005, but that was about it...

June 2005 was worse than disastrous though, because Matt was a passenger in a fatal accident at Goodwood, and received some grievous leg injuries, plus broken ribs. Upon his return, he stayed involved in driver coaching through Ferrari GB, met Peter Bamford, was recommended to Bamford as a race partner, by RPM’s Robin Mortimer – and that led to British GTs at the end of 2006 and a full season together, still with RPM, in 2007.

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, Griffin mentions a Carrera Cup race this year as the highlight of his season, not a British GT race.

“I raced at Thruxton, just as a one-off, and set the second fastest lap – so I proved to myself that I was as fast as anyone.”

He was faster than anyone else in a Porsche in British GTs, but the lack of performance of the 997 this year frustrated he and his new partner. But Griffin recognized that Bamford was driving really well, “it was just that the Porsche disguised how well he was driving”.

With Porsche GT3 plans unclear, and a Ferrari a natural route for Bamford in particular, things came together quickly for 2008.

“Peter wants to do Le Mans one day,” says Matt Griffin, “so we looked carefully at doing some international races. We looked at the Le Mans Series, but that wasn’t quite right at this stage. Then we looked at FIA GTs, in a GT2 Ferrari, but for a pro-am pair to do well would be very difficult.

“But in talking to AF Corse (or their non-FIA arm, Advanced Engineering), we stumbled across the International GT Open. It’s got the best GT package of any GT championship, the handicap system means that we stand a good chance of success, so the deal was done – and we’ll race one of the 2007 FIA cars, upgraded to 2008 spec.”

It’s likely that they’ll compete in the Spa 24 Hours too, in a GT2 Ferrari, and in a GT3 car at the Silverstone 24 Hours – so with the Bamford / Griffin 2008 season beginning at the Dubai 24 Hours (their second time there), by next September, Peter Bamford will have been racing for just over two years, and will have raced in five 24 hour events.

If they think they can win in the International GT Open, can they do so in British GTs, where there is no time added to pit stops, to even out the driver pairings?

“If we’d had the Chad Ferrari this year, we would have won races, I’m sure. Next year, I just don’t know,” says Matt Griffin.

Peter Bamford is equally cautious. “You never know about the competition until the season starts, but the Ferrari was highly competitive at most circuits in 2007. We have ambitions to be in the points, and we’d like to think we’ve got a shot at some podium places.”

Bamford and Griffin will be racing a brand new 430 GT3 in 2008 in the UK, and Matt Griffin comments that “Piers (Masarati) is a very good team manager – and a former champion, so he knows what’s wanted. He’s worked hard to put the right people together.”

With sprint races on the continent, plus 24 hour races in the Middle East, at Spa and at Silverstone, this pair is going to experience a lot of GT racing in 2008 – and that’s exactly how Matt Griffin likes it. “It’s fantastic for me, and for Peter too. This sport depends on guys like Peter, and I’m just grateful to him for another chance to race competitively.”

In testing for the Dubai 24 Hours, at Donington Park recently, Peter Bamford was just about a second off Matt Griffin’s times, in the RPM Porsche. They’re set to be a very good pairing wherever they race in 2008.